Back from SEMA, and boy are my feet tired…

Seriously though, when on the Las Vegas Strip, you walk everywhere.  And when you need to, you don’t just cross the street either.  That would make too much sense as it would be the shortest distance between two points.  Instead you locate the nearest crosswalk bridge thingie, take the escalator/elevator/stairs up to it, cross over the road, enter into the closest hotel that it attaches to, wander around there for a few minutes and eventually find your way out onto the street again.

Not to mention that the SEMA show itself covers about 2.2 million square feet.  To see the whole show one has to walk for miles.  Literally.  The Las Vegas Convention Center is a large, large building.

We decided to attend the show this year in an observatory role.  We weren’t prepared to display there this year, and really we weren’t quite convinced that we wanted to yet.  What we really wanted to check out was the Powersports pavilion, and how much of that very large convention center is devoted to the Powersports Industry in general.  We’ll get to that in a little bit…  First some backstory on why SEMA could be so very important to what we do.

For those that don’t know, the Domestic Powersports industry has one large convention every February in Indianapolis where many of the aftermarket suppliers and distributors gather to show off their wares and market their companies to the tens of thousands of people who attend from dealerships all over the country (the world actually).  This is called the Dealernews Dealer Expo, or the “Indy Show” for short.

One of the biggest pro/con issues with the Indy Show is that it is located in Indianapolis, IN.  This is great because the majority of the United States is a single day’s drive from Indy.  Indy is actually very centrally located.  That is, unless you happen to be located on the west coast.  And here is the rub.  Much of the Powersports Industry: Dealers, Parts Suppliers, and OEMs are all HQ’d on the west coast.  The weather and riding is great in So. Cal. so there is a high concentration of customers, and it is close to major shipping ports so it makes sense for the importers of product as well.  It just isn’t very close to Indy.

This is where SEMA becomes important.  SEMA takes place in Las Vegas, which happens to be very centrally located to the west coast of the United States.  Having a second show that would allow for the west coast companies and industry people to market themselves in a more cost effective venue would be of great benefit to a small Powersports company like PartsForScooters.com.  Las Vegas is closer to the west coast so more west coast dealers would be able to attend, as it would be easier to get to than Indy.  The Indy Show tradionally has a somewhat lower west coast centric attendance rate.  These west coast guys would then have to allocate less time away from their businesses to make it to the show.  Most Powersports dealerships don’t have huge staff numbers so it can cripple a dealership to send a couple of people to a show for any time at all.  Also with the state of the economy, anything to make attending a show less expensive is always a good thing.  The last couple of years have been very hard on the Motorcycle and Scooter business.

Upon arriving at the Las Vegas Convention Center and going through the rigmarole of acquiring our badges (Non-Exhibiting Manufacturer/Supplier) that would gain us access to SEMA we promptly went looking for the Powersports Pavilion.  It took us a little bit longer to find it than we thought it would however.  This had much to do with the fact that there barely was one at all!  It was a little disappointing to find about 30 (maybe) booths that comprised the portion of the show that we were investigating.  Needless to say, this was not the volume of product suppliers that was going to create a powerful Powersports dealer draw, and that was rather accurately reflected in the crowd.

SEMA really is an Automotive and Automotive based products show.  While on the outside it would make sense that Automotive and Powersports would go hand in hand, what we saw at SEMA showed that there is still quite a disconnect between the two.  For the past couple of years SEMA had been courting the Powersports Industry to attempt to create the kind of west coast show that I’ve envisioned, but they way it is set up now, it’s just not going to happen.  It is a shame really as 100,000+ people attended the show, but if you wandered into the Powersports section, you’d never know it.  There was very little focus on what it was or why it was there.

Were I a Powersports dealer who decided to spend the money and send some of my employees there to learn about new product I’d be sorely disappointed.  If I were an automotive guy looking to learn a bit about the Powersports industry to support a future expansion of my current business, I’d have left the show seriously questioning if Powersports would really be a viable option for the future.

Granted, I know we all have to start somewhere, and I certainly don’t have an answer on how to fix the Powersports Pavilion at SEMA but I do know that if SEMA wishes to become the Indy Show of the west, there is a whole lot of work to do.  They really need to get the big 5 OEMs displaying, and probably a couple of the large aftermarket distributors as well.  This alone would create a believable pavilion and would make it worthwhile for more people from the Powersports Industry to attend, both as displaying vendors and dealer traffic.  This may also get the Automotive professionals who already attend SEMA more involved with Powersports.  Yeah, Yeah, I know; easier said than done, but if anyone from SEMA wants to bounce some ideas on how to get that done I’d be more than happy to oblige.

Check out some of the pictures, the Las Vegas Strip and SEMA are quite the sight to behold.

Gambling anyone? Just one of many…

Paris Hotel and Casino at night

More Gambling

The dancing fountains at the Bellagio

The Flamingo

Paris Hotel and Casino

I have a thing for old Lincolns. I couldn’t pass one without taking a picture.

SEMA is so crazy that it spilled out into the parking lot…

A real adult sized Radio Flyer. (Made out of an old pickup, it turns out)

A real life Gran Turismo 5 sighting!

Going to SEMA

In a couple of weeks two representatives (Me and some other guy, we drew straws in the office using a smartphone app, thanks Google!) of PartsForScooters.com will be jetting off to Las Vegas for the SEMA show.  This year SEMA has a Powersports pavilion, and we want to find out if this show would be worth it for us to attend as an exhibitor next year.  This would be in addition to the Indianapolis Dealer Expo that occurs every February, where we already exhibit.

For those of you that are not familiar with SEMA, in a nutshell it is the world’s premier automotive products show, with parts and accessories for the Automotive, Truck and SUV, RV and now Powersports markets.

We figured that before committing to displaying at such a large show,  we had better just send out a couple of us to see what all the hype is about.  Besides, who doesn’t want a company trip to Vegas?

Sure, we could ask the show promoters if the Powersports pavilion would be worth it for us to set up a booth in and be a part of, but would we expect them to answer honestly if the expected turnout was less than stellar?  Probably not.  Their job is to get companies like us to buy booth space and to represent.  Since I’m sure that their answers will be what we want to hear anyway, better to check this one out in person.

SEMA has only been catering to the Powersports Market for a couple of years so it is still kind of an unknown entity as to what kind of draw it has.  We know that the Automotive side of the show is ridiculous, but who knows how that would translate to scooters.

Regardless, the show should be a lot of fun and very, very busy.  We’ll post anything cool that we see as soon as we get back.  Are any of you attending SEMA this year?  Let us know and if all goes well maybe we can meet up, our Purchasing Manager likes to buy people drinks.

We got us a whole bunch of new Gates belts

Like the title says, we just brought in a bunch of new Gates belts here at Partsforscooters.com and they are now available for sale.

Gates is one of the top belt manufacturers in the world, and we are very proud to be able to offer them to our customers.  Here is a short except about them from their website:

When Charles Gates, Sr. bought The Colorado Tire and Leather Company in 1911 for $3,500, little did he know his small shop in Denver would evolve into a leading rubber products company. Colorado Tire and Leather made a single product, the Durable Tread, a steel-studded band of leather that motorists fastened to their flimsy car tires to extend their mileage.

From this modest beginning Gates Corporation, formerly known as The Gates Rubber Company, has grown into one of the world’s largest manufacturers of industrial and automotive belts and hoses, plus a host of related products.

The company charted the course for its future success in 1917 when John Gates, Charles’ brother, invented the rubber and fabric V-belt. It was a huge success and within a decade Gates established itself as the world’s largest manufacturer of V-belts, a title it still holds today.

In the years that followed the company aggressively expanded its product line. Today, Gates serves customers in the industrial and automotive markets with a full line of belt and hose products.

When it comes to CVT belts Gates has been around for a while and they really have their act together.  Their belts are some of the strongest, longest lasting belts money can buy.  Since they aren’t much more expensive than a cheaper brand, it is pretty much a no-brainer for any scooter owner.

The Gates belts that we carry come in two flavors, Powerlink Standard and Powerlink Premium.   The Powerlink Standard belts offer a significant upgrade in durability over the stock belt found in most Chinese born scooters, while the Powerlink Premium belts offer an even higher standard of durability by utilizing the best rubber and Aramid fiber compounds available.

If you still have the stock belt, or maybe it is just time for a new replacement, take a look at our selection of Gates belts.  Chances are we’ve got you covered.

SMD LED Bulbs and why they are so much better (than those old ones you’ve got right now)

Recently we here at Partsforscooters.com brought in a new line of pretty special replacement light bulbs that we are pretty excited about.

They feature SMD LEDs, or for those of us who don’t speak acronym, Surface Mount Design Light Emitting Diodes.  Some of the benefits that these replacement bulbs offer are a very long life (up to and above 50,000 hours), very low electrical draw and they are really, really bright.

Here is how that translates to you and your scooter in the real world…

Long life speaks for itself.  Slap these into your scoot and forget about changing bulbs again for pretty much forever.  50,000 hours of life would be equivalent to having the bulb burn for 2,083 days non stop…  almost 6 years.

Secondly, since these bulbs have a very low electrical draw compared to a standard incandescent bulb (what you most likely have in your scoot currently) they won’t over stress your scooter’s electrical system.  This is particularly beneficial to some of the smaller displacement scooters as sometimes their charging systems are challenged by the stock lighting that came from the factory causing batteries to prematurely die, and other electrical components to fail before their time.  They might even allow you to consider some other additions to your scooters such as a Sound System.

Lastly, SMD LED bulbs are BRIGHT.  I don’t think this can be stressed enough.  Flat out, they harness the power of the sun.  If you’ve ever been worried that you aren’t being seen while riding your scooter, well good…  because you aren’t.  Drivers never look.  I don’t think these bulbs can fix that problem, but they can certainly help.  They are bright enough that they just might get the attention of a driver who otherwise wouldn’t have noticed a scooter rider.  This alone makes SMD LED bulbs a worth while investment for any rider.  Anything that can possibly lower the amount of risk associated with riding is worth it.

Check out our selection of SMD LED replacement light bulbs, and outfit your scooter today.

We installed them in our shop scooter, and are quite pleased with the results, check out the pictures for yourself, you won’t be disappointed.

Mobile (as in on your phone) browsing.

Just a quick thought…

While at lunch yesterday several of us got into a discussion about the current relevance of Mobile Web Browsing and how it relates to www.partsforscooters.com.

We noticed that our website, which has purposely been built for simplicity lacks some of the bells and whistles and general “Flash” of some of the competition but does pull up very cleanly and quickly on a mobile phone’s web browser.  For example we pulled it up on an Android phone during our conversation and we were pleasantly surprised with the results.

Any of you readers who have an iPhone, Android Phone, Web OS, WinMo or Blackberry handset (or I guess any form of mobile web browsing will do), give our webpage a try to let us know what you think.

Wow, it’s been a tough month for Powersports, and scooters too!

Like the title says, it’s been a tough month for powersports.  And particularly for scooters.  The last several months, actually.

The overall industry lost one of its publishing stalwarts this month when Motorcycle Industry Magazine closed up shop.  Lucky for powersports there are still many other great magazines available to pick up the slack, such as Dealernews, Motorcycle Product News and Powersports Business, amongst others.  If you are part of the powersports industry I highly reccommend that you check these out as there is tons of great information in them, and could possibly provide you the edge you need.

What stings a little bit more for us scooter people is the loss of Scooter World Magazine.  If you visit their website you can read their farewell letter.  (www.scooterworldmag.com)  Scooter World was certainly a resource for many of us who got into the scooter scene without the benefit of having any interest in the retro market.  The only alternative left to us is Scoot! magazine, and while a fine publication in its own right, is a very different magazine from what Scooter World was.  They did a fine job of complimenting each other, and for that fact alone (and for others too) Scooter World will be missed.

In addition to the bike distributors that have gone under or left the stateside market recently, such as Tank, Vento, UM, SUNL and others, along with the changes that will be upcoming it has been a difficult year for scooters.  Everybody out there hang tough and if you’ve got any ideas how to help the industry speak up and let us know.  Who knows?  Maybe we can spark yet another market revival together.

The Twist and Gone 2010 “Adventure”

Whoooo, we just returned from Twist and Gone 2010 and it was a blast.  Just a nutshell on the weekend and a couple of pictures:

Also a quick shout out to Jeremy Hall of Envriomoto for creating this event and seeing it through to completion.  It was very well done and we hope to be a part of any future events.

Alright.  Bottom line is that we placed second in our class (100cc 4T open).  Great right?  Well…  There were only two bikes in our class so, not so great I guess, but there are some bright points in there.

First off, our rider Kate had the fastest RT of the day, with a .027 and also had no red lights so it looks like we made the right choice about who to have ride the scooter.

Unfortunately we couldn’t get the NOS dialed in time to make the race so we had to run without, and our little scoot had a stalling issue so that didn’t help us either, but we learned a whole bunch about what we need to do to be more competitive for future events.  We also think that we may have a couple more entrants the next time we go scooter racing, and in some different classes, so it should end up being a great time.

Overall I’d have to label the Twist and Gone a success, and we are looking forward to Twist and Gone 2011 and any other scooter racing events that we can take part in.

Also this marks the beginning of the Partsforscooters.com Racing operation.

Next we made a short detour on the way home to US129 on the NC / TN border.  More commonly known as Deal’s Gap, or The Tail of The Dragon and it may be the most incredible stretch of paved road ever.  Featuring 318 curves over 11 miles, Deal’s Gap is a playground for just about any Scooter or Motorcycle enthusiast and well worth the trip should you be in the area.  For more information on the Gap, visit www.tailofthedragon.com and for pictures and video hit up www.killboy.com.  You will not be disappointed.

Take a look at some of our pictures and let us know what you think.

2 New Product Lines

I know that in my last post I mentioned the Twist and Gone scooter drag races (www.twistandgone.com), but just wanted to reiterate that we are really looking forward to them.  We hope to be able to meet many of our customers there, make a few new friends and just be a part of the U.S. scooter culture.  Let’s all pray for nice weather, safe riding and good people.  See you all there.

Some of the cool things going on here at Partsforscooters.com:  We recently picked up a couple of new vendors to add to our product mix.  They both have a high quality product that helps to fill out our product mix nicely.

First up is Startron by Starbrite.  If you are also part of the Marine Industry, or just like boats you may already be familiar with this product.  It is an enzyme based fuel additive that helps to neutralize some of the issues caused by E-10 (10% Ethanol) fuel.  Since almost all of the states run E-10 now, it  is a valuable product for anyone who has a machine that could sit for any period of time between uses.  I know, I know…  fuel additives don’t do anything, they are just a gimmick, blah, blah, blah.  But seriously, it really does work.  If you know anyone who has used it, they’ll also tell you the same.  It also functions as a fuel stabilizer, so we get to kill two birds with one stone on this one.  Pick some up, give it a try and let us know what you think.  To learn more about Startron visit their website - www.startron.com.

The next vendor I’d like to mention is MotoBatt.  These guys are a battery vendor here in Florida and make high quality AGM powersports batteries.  AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat and simply means that the battery acid is pre-absorbed between the plates of the battery, so you never have to add acid or water.  They are truly maintenance free, leak proof, spill proof and vibration resistant.  MotoBatt batteries also feature a proprietary 4 terminal design that allows for many different fitment options without a hundred different part numbers.  Get some in stock for the spring, and if you have any questions please give us a call so that we may do our best to help.

Oh yeah, and the best part:  MotoBatt offers a 2 year warranty on all of their batteries!  It’s tough to beat that.

At Partsforscooters.com we are dedicated to offering the best and most needed products to all of our customers, keeping our product in stock and available and making your experience with us as pleasant as possible.  If you see somewhere that we are not following through on this, let us know.  We need all of the feedback that we can get.  It’s the only way that we can get better.

New Vendors and Scooter Drag Racing?

Partsforscooters.com had traditionally been a provider of stock replacement parts for Asian (read: Chinese) scooters.  It is how we made our name in this little industry, and by no means do we plan to forget it.  In fact we plan to support even more in the upcoming years and months.

If we could be criticized for anything it would certainly be for our lack of involvement in the scooter enthusiast community.  And for the most part it’s true, we just haven’t been that involved.  Something about keeping a business running really gets in the way of some of the things that you’d like to do.

This is about to change.

We are proud to announce that we will be a sponsor for the 1st annual Twist and Gone Scooter Drag Races!  For more information check out www.twistandgone.com.  If all goes well we may even be able to compete in one of the classes, well, at least I’m hoping that we can.  It may be greedy of me, but quite frankly I want to race a scooter.  Not only do I think it will be fun, it’ll be crazy fun.  And probably more than a little silly too.

This also gives us a great opportunity to provide a better introduction of the Hoca brand performance parts that we carry.  Hoca is a Taiwanese brand of performance parts that primarily fit GY6, QMB139, and Minarelli style engines.  They make a really nice part, and we have found them to be of very high quality.  If you are looking for some performance parts for your scoot, give ‘em a shot and let us know what you think.  Just hit our website www.partsforscooters.com and punch Hoca into the search box to see what we offer.

If we manage to pull together and build a small displacement four-stroke drag scoot over the next 2 months, many of the parts that we use will be from the Hoca line, and I can’t imagine them not serving us well.  Granted we’ll be playing in the shallow end of the pool, in the beginner classes, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

Do I really think we have a chance to win our class?  Nope, there are many, many people with far more talent and knowledge than we have when it comes to building modified scooters.  I can only imagine what some of the two-stroke beasts that people will show up with can do, but it should be exciting to find out.

You should come out and see for yourself.

Indy Dealer Expo Report

Back from Indy (okay, so we’ve been back for a week.) and just a few things to report.

Normally I always find something cool at Indy to share, but for the first time in many years I really didn’t have any luck.  Many of the same vendors and my industry friends were there, as they always are (thanks for the drinks John!) but it was a small show by all accounts.  Vendor attendance was down, and I’m sure dealer attendance was too.  I did however get the impression that those who were attending were quite serious about our industry.  It’s always a good time to talk with the people who keep us in business.

To those who stopped by our booth, we thank you and hope that we can help you to have a great upcoming season.

On of the best things that happened to us at Partsforscooters at the show was the industry connections that we made this year.  Our focus was to continue to find items to add to our product mix that will allow our dealers to rely on us more and to make supporting their customers easier.  I’m not going to say that we have succeeded on this task at this point, but we did meet many of the people who could allow us to make this happen.  Very very exciting.  Just keep your eyes peeled here as we make announcements on any new relationships we develop.

Now that the show is over its time to get to finishing that electric scooter project that I’ve been putting off…